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One-two punch of federal project approvals leaves some in southwest Boulder County reeling

Gross Reservoir, Forsythe II both get nod in same week

By Charlie Brennan

Staff Writer

Posted:
07/11/2017 06:39:34 PM MDT

Updated:
07/12/2017 11:14:10 AM MDT

Recent days have proved a rough stretch for people living in southwest Boulder County who are worried that two significant federal projects green- lighted to move forward could transform the land they hold dear in ways that are irreversible and to its detriment.

The first setback in what was felt by many as a one-two punch came Thursday, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit approving an expansion of Gross Reservoir that would add 77,000 total acre feet to its capacity and require raising the dam by 131 feet.

The second body blow in the eyes of some was the announcement Monday that the U.S. Forest Service approved Forsythe II, a large-scale forest health and restoration project on 2,460 acres of Roosevelt National Forest land between Gross Reservoir and Nederland — a plan that had stirred the ire of hundreds of critics who signed a petition to stop it.

"I just hope someone got the license plate number of the bus that drove over our neighborhood," said Howard Kaushansky, who lives in the Aspen Meadows subdivision off Magnolia Road between Nederland and Gross Reservoir.

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"It was a bad week, if you live around Gross Dam and Gross Reservoir — especially if you live on the west side," said Gary Wockner, of Save the Colorado, which is already threatening a lawsuit to stop the reservoir's expansion.

"I think the homeowners who live in that area west of Gross Reservoir, and around it, now have two reasons to be extremely upset."

Not expecting a miracle

Climate scientist David Bahr is pictured at his home near Gross Reservoir on Tuesday in Nederland. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers' permit approval is not the last step in the process enabling Gross Reservoir's expansion, which Denver Water hopes to start in 2018 and complete by 2025.

Also needed is approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission of Denver Water's hydropower license amendment application. That's expected at some point next year, according to Jeff Martin, the Gross Reservoir expansion project manager.

Wockner doesn't see any suspense around that step.

"We're not expecting any miracle from FERC," he said.

Wockner said a lawsuit — should one be pursued — will not wait on the FERC decision, and the Corps of Engineers' permit approval is being scrutinized with an eye toward preparing a legal challenge.

"That will be a process," he said. "It will take some time; probably a few months. But we're not waiting for anything else."

The expansion, however, may also have to pass through land-use approvals by Boulder County commissioners, and that could prove a bigger hurdle to Denver Water's plans.

Boulder County spokeswoman Barb Halpin said the county believes that Denver Water is obligated still to submit the expansion project to the county's land-use process, whereas Denver Water — which supplies water to more than 1.4 million users in its service area — does not believe that's the case, she said.

Stacy Chesney, a spokeswoman for Denver Water, confirmed that that's the agency's position.

Additionally, Boulder County has filed a motion to intervene in the reservoir's FERC application process, citing many issues such as the 200,000-plus trees of more than 4 inches in diameter that will be removed, the lack of a transportation plan for their removal, as well as associated issues tied to climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.

"The board (of commissioners) is concerned that things are not being addressed, and the county asserts that Denver Water still needs to come through ... our local land-use process," Halpin said.

University of Colorado junior Forrest Jordan takes a ride in his canoe while camping at Gross Reservoir on Tuesday in Nederland. (Jeremy Papasso / Staff Photographer)

She added: "Certainly we've been hearing from residents in the Gross Reservoir area throughout this process."

'Time to admit defeat?'

The rural communities outside Nederland — beloved by people in search of a refuge from suburbia while still maintaining some proximity to some of its amenities — feel like they have been dealt a bad hand of late.

"We're kind of the neglected corner of Boulder County, and there is a real confluence of badness up here," said David Bahr, a climate scientist who also lives in the Aspen Meadows subdivision.

"We've got itinerant camping problems, increased fire dangers from campers and climate change, the Forest Service that wants to clear cut, we've got Gross Reservoir and we've got the (recreational) shooting problem, which Boulder County is really dragging its feet on," he said, ticking off a list familiar to his neighbors. "It's that combination of all the above that has made life in this corner of the county something different from when I moved up here 20 years ago."

Bahr has been talking for some time about moving, and still says that's his plan — although holding onto his property so that he might be able to move back to it some years down the road, if things improve, is a consideration.

"It's not an irrational decision," he said. "We have increased fire danger from climate change, we're concerned about the shooting and I'm really concerned about all the construction noise, the 10,000 projected logging trucks from Gross Reservoir and the logging trucks from Forsythe II.

"I only get one life and I have fought these things for 15 some years and it may be time to admit defeat. I don't know."

Bahr was echoed by Teagen Blakey, who lives in the Magnolia area and has followed developments on the environmental front affecting the area closely.

"Firstly, it's a lot to take in all at once, but it's the idea of, everything seems to come at once, always. And to have both of these together is a strain on time and energy, to be able to respond to both of them," she said.

But she is optimistic that Gross Reservoir's expansion can be delayed or blocked altogether. She asserted that the vast majority of public input to county commissioners has been in opposition; Halpin, too, said its critics have been vocal.

"How often do you have an almost unanimous voice from your people, telling you to do one thing?" Blakey said. "Of course, I don't think any county would want to get into a lawsuit. But I think that's what it would take, if Boulder County stood up for what's right."

Reid Armstrong, Forest Service spokeswoman for the Boulder Ranger District of the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forest, emphasized that the Forsythe II decision and Gross Reservoir permitting were unrelated acts by separate entities, and their close timing was purely a coincidence. She also underscored the high level of public engagement the Forest Service facilitated throughout the Forsythe II process, which she said will continue by way of a multiparty monitoring group as the project moves forward.

"We're doing that with both this project and the Magnolia Trails project," Armstrong said. "Public involvement continues. We're going to put our focus and effort on the implementation of these two projects and doing it well, and listening to the public input as we go."

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